Reclaim the narrative, longest-serving v-c urges UK universities

John Cater, the UK’s longest-serving vice-chancellor who is set to retire in January after leading what is now Edge Hill University for 31 years, insisted that he never thought of his record-breaking tenure “as a career”.

The 71-year old geographer, who began his time in academia as a lecturer at Edge Hill in 1979, is a humble figure. While he quipped that “luck” had got him where he is today, his record says otherwise. Under Dr Cater’s leadership, Edge Hill, a former teacher training college in Ormskirk, Lancashire, obtained degree-awarding powers and then university status in 2006, and was one of only five institutions granted permission to open a new medical school in 2018. It has been most-nominated contender for Times Higher Education’s University of the Year title since 2007, shortlisted five times in that period and winner of the coveted prize in 2014.

But Dr Cater leaves at a time of great unease in the sector. “You can’t be a part-time vice-chancellor,” he said as he pointed out the growing crises facing the English sector: 40 per cent of universities anticipated that they would finish the last academic year in financial deficit, and the expected additional income from next September’s rise in tuition fees to £9,535 is forecast to be wiped out by the cost of increased national insurance contributions.

Modern, teaching-focused universities are thought to be particularly at risk, especially as highly selective institutions expand their enrolment at the expense of less prestigious providers.

While Dr Cater said Edge Hill has seen times of greater difficulty – highlighting its failure to gain university status in 1992 – the same cannot be said of wider challenges. “In the job I’m doing, there have been much tougher times than today. In terms of the funding environment, it’s about as bad as it’s ever been,” he said.

However, Dr Cater was sceptical of many of the options being proposed to tackle the problems, including the suggestion that struggling universities should be steered into mergers with bigger institutions.

“In my mind, there’s no such thing as a merger. A merger is a coalescence of two equal partners, and that never happens in effect,” he said, citing how the University of Leeds merged with Bretton Hall College of Education in 2001, only for the university to close it down six years later after it was deemed to be unviable financially. The former college is now a luxury spa and hotel.

Dr Cater is passionate not just about Edge Hill, but also about the wider social good of education. “I would never go around saying people should have less education or fewer opportunities,” he said, arguing that higher education should be a “growth industry”. Maintenance loans should be increased to £12,570 to put them in line with the maximum earnings people can accumulate before they start paying income tax, and he has even argued that rent controls should be explored seriously to help manage costs and aid student participation.

Among the problems facing the sector, a key one is “a lack of stability”. This is where tuition fees come in, Dr Cater said, arguing that fees should rise in line with inflation year-on-year, allowing the government to look at “alternative modelling” while making it possible for universities to budget. Speaking before the initial fee increase was announced, he said Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government had so far provided “better mood music, [but] nothing to make me want to dance”.

And if the picture he painted was one of a sector under pressure, Dr Cater insisted that he was still hopeful for higher education – “I don’t think you should be a vice-chancellor if you’re not.” Education is about being a “grounded optimist”, he said.

“If you work in education, you’ve got to believe in its importance, its significance for the way it creates opportunity and changes lives,” he said. “I’ve had the best job around for anyone over the past 30 years. Every year, you’re renewed.”

After cracking his head open at his 70th birthday party playing curling, Dr Cater has no grand plans to mark the end of his tenure. But has he any parting advice for the sector?

“We need to change the narrative,” he said. “Try to emphasise the positive messages about what education achieves, about what you achieve.

“There was quite a lot of mental illness in my family. My mother struggled to cope. I was shunted around, and education basically gave me the life chances that I had. And I think we should never forget what education can do for people’s lives.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com